Killing them softly in Medellin

More than sixty
musicians were threatened with death immediately after El Duke´s funeral. The
ceremony was considered a provocation by armed criminal groups,
or BaCrim as they are known in Colombia. But ultimately, the police
must demonstrate that they are in the business of protection and not
punishment.

The fortunes of
Colombia’s second largest city are taking an unexpected turn for the worse.
Heralded as the "Medellin miracle" by local authorities some years
back, violent crime in the city´s slums or Comunas is fast spiralling out
of control. Mafia-style killings, violent clashes, police retaliation,
arbitrary detentions, and forced displacement are all on the rise.

Once credited
with leading the country´s renaissance, Medellin is now receding to the more
brutal Middle Ages. A spate of high profile assassinations of musicians is a
tangible sign of the city’s decline. A teenage member of a local criminal gang
shot and killed hip hop star Elider Valera, aka “El Duke”, in late October. Just
a few days ago Roberth Steven Barrera, popularly known as “Garra” also died in
a hail of bullets. Both artists routinely denounced violence and the
militarization of society in their lyrics.

Their deaths
must be added to a grisly toll of artists killed in the
Medellin´s Comunas over the past few years. The sense of fear on the
city’s streets is palatable. More than sixty musicians were threatened with
death immediately after El Duke´s funeral. The ceremony was considered a
provocation by armed criminal groups or BaCrim as they are known in
Colombia. Predictably, hundreds of people fled Comunas 8 and 13 with
their families, including the rapper groups Son Bata and La
Elite. What is not clear is whether the targeting of musicians represents a
calculated plan or whether it is instead a symptom of wider disorder in these
neighborhoods.

Making matters
worse, the city’s police and the country’s armed forces launched heavy-handed
operations to tamp down local unrest. As the crackle of gunshots rings
throughout the city, local residents see unsettling echoes of the past. During
the 1990s, Medellin was considered to be the most violent city in the world
with a homicide rate exceeding 350 deaths per 100,000, and lorded over by
powerful drug lords such as Pablo Escobar. And following the killing of two
police men in a shoot-out with gang members late last month, the police are in
little mood to compromise. Confronted with what they see as gang-related
violence, police operations are adopting ever more brutal and repressive
tactics. While expressing sympathy for the deaths of
policemen, Comuna 13 resident and activist Lukas Jamarillo is
concerned with how, “the police come in aggressively and are focused on hard
metrics: catching criminals and dismantling illegal networks”. Heavily armed
security forces are shaking down and extorting ostensibly pacifist Rastafarians
and Reggae artists. Their forceful methods are perpetuating stigmas while
eroding what little trust and solidarity remains with community
residents.

Notwithstanding
ritual displays of captured guns and gang members in the national newspapers,
some locals feel that the Medellin authorities are failing in their duty to
provide security. This may be due to a gap in the capacities of the police
force, according to Mayor Anibal Gaviaria. And as opposition to police
brutality continues to mount, it is becoming obvious that a change of tune is
urgently required.

A new approach,
Jamarillo contends, “should refocus attention to promoting personal safety and
security, adopt more accountable and communicative measures, and treat people
with dignity and civility”. This recent wave of violence should be set
against remarkable progress in Medellin during the past two decades. The city´s
previous mayors, including Sergio Fajardo and Alonso Salazar, are widely
credited with improving public security and expanding access to basic services,
including to poorer areas. In less than a decade, formerly gang-held territory
was recovered and new ways of physically and symbolically connecting the city
were piloted, including the renowned Metrocable (cable-cars). What is
more, a strategy of proximity policing and local patrolling was introduced to
marginalized Comunas.

After years of
innovation, however, the city is reverting to old ways. The recent surge of violence
reveals the fragility of past efforts to bring security to citizens. Yet the
situation can be reversed. New tactics are needed to recover trust, including a
greater emphasis on restoring safety to the streets – especially for young
people. There should be less emphasis on killing and
capturing Mafioso or small time drug dealers. As Jamarillo observes,
“murders here represent a failure of our whole society … we propose a strategy
that celebrates life, promotes reconciliation, and recovers territory”.
Ultimately, the police must demonstrate that they are in the business of
protection and not punishment.

About the author

Robert Muggah is the research director of the Brazil-based Igarapé Institute in Rio de Janeiro, and oversees research at the SecDev Foundation in Canada. He is a contributor to the
Global Commission on Drug Policy.

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